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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
Nichols
The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
Workshop
Thursday, April 4, 2024|1:30–4:00PM EDT|Engineering Design and Innovation Building Room 326
Session Organizers:
Carolina Dutra (Penn State University)
Luiz Aldeia Machado (Penn State University)
Want to learn about Nek5000? In this hands-on workshop, Dr. Elia Merzari (PSU) and PSU students will guide attendees as they explore this open-source computational fluid dynamics code known for its scalability and precision. Nek5000 combines spectral methods with finite element techniques, making it versatile for various nuclear energy applications. It can conduct DNS, LES, and unsteady RANS simulations and accommodates both incompressible and low-Mach models. All attendees are expected to bring their personal computers. No prior experience with using the software is required.
Speaker
Elia Merzari
Dr. Elia Merzari received his Ph.D. from the Tokyo Institute of Technology with a thesis on the use of advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques for the simulation of flows in rod bundles. After graduation, he remained at the same institute as a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science fellow. In 2009, he joined Argonne National Laboratory, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a regular staff in 2010. At Argonne, Dr. Merzari served in several roles in the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program, for which he currently is the thermal-fluids lead. In 2019, he joined the faculty at Penn State as an associate professor. Dr. Merzari’s research relies on predictive large-scale simulations of turbulence to improve our physical understanding of complex flows and to ultimately design safer and more efficient nuclear reactors.
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